Working through creative problem solving can serve young mind swell in academics as well as life.
It turns out the state’s best teenagers in this realm are seven sophomores making up the Ballston Spa Odyssey of the Mind team, who qualified to compete in the organization’s 33rd World Championship from May 23to 26 at Iowa State University. On March 31, they went up against 17 teams in a statewide competition.
“We were very excited to go to world (championship). It’s an amazing opportunity to meet people from around the world. It’s so cool,” said team member Maggie Zink.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international program offered mainly through schools providing creative problem solving opportunities for students in kindergarten through college. Teams of five to seven choose a problem to solve among subjects ranging from building mechanical devices to presenting interpretations of literary classics.
The Ballston Spa team has remained mostly intact since middle school, with a few members leaving, and have advanced to the state championships every year since 6th grade.
Zink has been on an Odyssey of the Mind team since she was in the third grade.
“It’s really, really fun, I love to make props and scenery for Odyssey. It’s a lot of fun, you’re with your friends and you meet a lot of people,” said Zink.
Team member Lydia Freehafer, 16, has been involved with OM since she was in kindergarten.
“My older sister had done Odyssey of the Mind, and my mom had coached her team. Sometimes I would visit their meetings and it looked like a lot of fun. My favorite part about being in the group is how rewarding it is. After working hard for months and months, you get to see your work pay off during the competition, which is tons of fun,” she said.
Usually, teams tackle one problem a year, but not this team. They took on two. They won the regional competition for their entry in “You Make the Call,” in which the team built an 8-inch weight bearing structure made only of balsa wood and glue. They chose to build a 9-gram structure from among three weight categories, 9, 12 or 15 grams. After many designs, they succeeded in building a structure that supported an impressive 793 lbs. The team was also awarded a bonus for using the lower weight category.
The second problem, titled “To Be or Not To Be,” was an arts based problem requiring a prop and an 8-minute sketch. The team constructed a giant head, affectionately known as The Thinkinator, that was used in both problems.
In addition to building the structure, the problem required the teams to write and perform an 8-minute math based skit, including an original device that would demonstrate a mathematical function on two objects. The team made the 6-foot-tall head, with moving eyes, lips and tongue that demonstrated how two-dimensional objects turn into three dimensions. Thinkinator is able to unfold itself from a flat appearance to a fully three-dimensional object.
Zink is one of the sewers on the team and said that most of the sewing of the fabric for the head was done by machine. The team couldn’t spend more than $125, but luckily they had many materials on hand and got others at a discount from garage sales.
The team used the head for both problems because it was “such an awesome and amazing prop” according to Zink.
Laurie Freehafer has been a coach for Odyssey of the Mind for 13 years and saw the ambition with which the team took on their chosen quandaries.
“The best part is how the girls act when they don’t necessarily win. They’re so gracious and supportive of the other teams that do win. Although they all have opinions on how they wish things would go when they’re working on their problem they’re all very accommodating and willing to compromise and they get along really well,” she said.
Freehafer said for her daughters (her older daughter, Claire is now 18 and in college) being on the team has been good for their self confidence.
“Odyssey of the Mind allows them to incorporate the arts and music as well as math and science and physics and it gives them a well rounded confidence knowing that they’re gaining experiences in the sciences math and the arts right in the same organization. That’s why I love it too,” she said.
Other problems the team could have chosen from included ones focused more on the arts, but this team having not shied away from the math and sciences, has found its specialty in those areas and has been able to incorporate the arts as well.
Details and photos of the structure problem were not available so as not to inform competitors of what the team has planned.
Zink says that if other kids are thinking about joining an Odyssey of the Mind team, “The competition is extremely fun and you get to use a lot of problem solving and creative thinking. It helps you think outside of the box and you sometimes do have to use math and other aspects of academics to figure out the problems.”
She plans on attending college to study architecture.
Lydia Freehafer talked about her experience on the team saying that with “seven different imaginations on the team,” almost anything is possible.
“On our team we’re all really close, because together we work so hard on what we set our minds to. I’ve learned a lot of construction skills, from building balsa wood structures to giant six-foot heads. I think the most important skill I’ve learned is to think creatively and outside of the box,” said Freehafer.
To travel to Iowa for the world championship, the team needs to raise all its own expenses, which works out to be around $700 per person. They’ve been busy at work formulating fundraisers and will be announcing them soon. To donate and see what fundraisers they’ll be holding, visit ballston-om.com
